KOTA KINABALU: A driver who molested two five-year-old girls while sending and fetching them from kindergarten in 2022 and 2024 has been sentenced to 30 years in prison and three strokes of the cane.
The 54-year-old had pleaded guilty to three counts of physical sexual assault when the charges were read out to him at the Sessions Court here yesterday.
The offences were under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping upon conviction.
The court heard that the man, who knew the victims’ parents, had asked the girls to sit on his lap while he was driving before proceeding to assault them.
The girls told their parents who then lodged a police report.
According to the first charge, he assaulted one of the girls between March and December 2024 inside a car while parked in a village in Tuaran near here.
For this, he was given a 10-year jail term and a stroke of the cane.
For the second offence, he was given the same punishment for committing the same act on the same girl in a house in the same village.
On the third count, the court issued him the same sentence for assaulting another girl inside a car also parked in the same village in Tuaran in 2022.
The man must undergo counselling throughout his jail term and be placed under police supervision for two years upon release.
The court ordered the accused to serve his sentences for the first and second charges concurrently. He is to serve the third sentence consecutively.
When handing out his verdict, the judge said the court’s decision took into account the public interest and seriousness of the case as well as the harm caused to the children.
The accused, who was unrepresented, asked for leniency and asked for his sentences to run concurrently as he had a wife and two children suffering from Thalassemia to care for.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Yousof Tahir urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the grounds that the two victims were five years old.
He said the accused had broken the responsibility entrusted to him by the girls’ parents.
Save 30% for ads-free and full access now!
